Different Than Usual
by Fleur fatigue
Summary: After the revelation of All Might's fate, Midoriya decides to become even stronger than he already is to fight destiny alongside his favorite hero. He asks the strongest person he knows to help him, Bakugou—and things between them have been getting weird ever since (slow burn). SPOILER ALERT takes place after chapter 131
1. Chapter 1

Vaguely hearing the hum of his classmates' chatter as he walked past the corridor, Midoriya walks numbly up the stairs and shuts the door behind him as he enters his room. He stands in the doorway and stares into space. The events that just transpired as he chased All Might down and discovered not only the secret to the successorship but also All Might's nearing demise.

He shuffles over and falls onto his bed. He thinks about what he just said to All Might about twisting fate, and how he needs to talk to Nighteye about whether All Might's fate has changed or not.

He sighs. How's he gonna persuade Nighteye to give him his prediction? Nighteye was against his successorship of One for All in the first place, and Midoriya's involvement with All Might notably bothers Nighteye too. It was difficult to make him agree to an internship, and even that was harder than Midoriya thought it could ever be. How could he ask for this favor?

Midoriya still feels the weight of inadequacy under the idea that Togata would be a better candidate for One for All. He lifts a closed fist in front of his face and holds it there, aware of how much power he holds but could not yet use because of the fragility of his body and his unfamiliarity with the power itself.

He turns over on the bed and stares at the ceiling. _I need to get stronger_ , he thought. _I need to get stronger I need to get stronger. I need to get stronger to surpass Togata. I need to get stronger to prove to Nighteye that I'm worthy of One for All. I need to get stronger so I could finally be able to tell the world "I'm Here"._

Reverberating through the hallway, Bakugou's shouts carry all the way from the stairs to Midoriya's bedroom. "There's no fucking way! Who the hell even thinks like that?"

Kirishima's voice illegibly responded—but before Midoriya could even attempt to listen in, he was running out the door and racing to the stairwell.

He looks downstairs to see Bakugou just as he turns the corner. " _Kacchan!_ " He yells.

Bakugou stops in his tracks completely. The sound of Kirishima's steps continued on, and Bakugou steps back to look directly up at Midoriya. "What do you want?" He mutters.

His chest swells at Bakugou's recent settlement—he's been much calmer, at least to _Bakugou's_ standards, since his rescue. He's been especially settled after the fight they had to finally voice the anger they've held against each other after all these years. And filled with hope and optimism, Midoriya demanded, "Help me practice fighting!"

Bakugou draws his head back and blinks in surprise. "What? Hell no."

And with that, Midoriya's image shatters. _Ah. Of course._ _What else did I expect._ He sighs. "C'mon, Kacchan, I won't take up much time!"

"No way, I'm not getting punished again. Do you remember how much cleaning after everyone fucking sucked?" He begins to turn away.

"No, wait, Kacchan, please!" Midoriya runs down the stairs after him.

"Fuck off, Deku!" He shouts as he continues downward. "Find someone else!"

Midoriya laughs slightly at how easily he reverts back to his old self. "But it could only be you!"

"What?! Why?!"

They make it to the bottom floor and now he's is chasing Bakugou through the corridor. "Because you're the best!" Bakugou starts slowing down his pace. _Haha! I got him!_ "You're so cool, Kacchan, no one at this school is as cool as you! You're the sole winner of anything you try! And you beat anyone you come across! You're the best! You're always the best!" Midoriya could feel himself overdoing it, but Kacchan seems to be soaking in the appraisal—his pace has slowed down and he's turned his head slightly to hear the shower of compliments. But Midoriya also notices something else about the way he's acting that's different than usual. Nonetheless, He keeps pushing the envelope as far as it'll go. "You'll be Number One hero of all time! You'll be the best of them all! Kacchan is incredible! Amazing! Cool! Stunning—"

"Alright, _Alright!_ " Bakugou shouts. He stops in his tracks completely, and he wouldn't turn around to face Midoriya.

"Yes! Thank you!" He sparkles with excitement and energy. "Are you free later today?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." He didn't turn back around when he said over his shoulder, "now don't fucking follow me anymore."

Midoriya looks at Bakugou as he stomps away to the door. _He's acting kinda weird,_ he thinks.


	2. Chapter 2

"What's going on?" Uraraka asks Midoriya a few minutes after his and Bakugou's exchange in the middle of the corridor. She'd been sitting on the couch in the lounge when she heard Midoriya shouting " _you'll be Number One Hero of all time! You'll be the best of them all! Kacchan is incredible!"_

Midoriya looks at her in surprise. "Oh, haha, that?" He rubs the back of his head. "I was just trying to convince Kacchan to do something for me." He begins walking back up the stairs.

Uraraka looks at the steps in front of her with uncertainty as she walks next to him. "What would that be?" She asks.

"I want him to teach me how to fight better."

She looks at him in surprise. "Is that really it?"

Midoriya looks back in confusion. "Yeah, what else could I have been asking him to do?"

"I thought…" She shakes the thought out of her head. "Deku, what do you think about him?"

"Well, he's been my friend since we were kids. I have a lot of respect for him. I hope we'll continue to be friends." He looks at her. "Why d'you ask?"

She shakes her head again. "Just wondering," she said lightly. She hesitates, and then says, "Can I see you for a little later today?"

He looks back even more confused. "But we're talking right now?"

"No, it has to be later!" She demands.

"Okay!" he responds, throwing his hands up. "I'm gonna practice with Kacchan later, so it could be either before or after then?"

Her head is turned away from Midoriya so he couldn't look her in the eye, but he sees her flinch when he mentions his later plans."Ah," she begins, "Um, afterward. I'll see you afterward."

They reach the second floor and Midoriya walks out of the stairwell. "Alright, I'll see you then," he waves as he looks back, and sees he make an incredibly anxious expression. It startles him but makes him more confused than ever. _Everyone's acting weird today._

He walks up the stairs as quietly as possible, cringing visibly at every groan the steps made at the slightest shift of weight. He takes the lightest step manageable, and it creaks with considerable volume. _What the hell! This place was built two weeks ago!_

"Midoriya-kun, what are you doing?"

He jumps and turns around to see Todoroki on his way up the stairs with fresh bandages littered all over his exposed body.

"Oh my god, Todoroki-kun, what've _you_ been doing?" He cries in response.

"It's for the Provisional License Training Course, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." He laughs awkwardly as he rubs the back of his head.

"Why does it look like you're sneaking around?" Todoroki asks.

He thinks back to the time Togata's face appeared when he walked out of the building just to throw out the trash, but doesn't want to explain that. "Uh, I, um, don't want to wake anyone up. From sleeping, and stuff." He cringes internally at his inability to lie believably.

Todoroki smiles and gives a small laugh. "It's 7:30, Midoriya-kun."

He stops for a moment and blinks. His mouth opens at words he's about to utter until a thought abruptly enters his mind. "The Provisional License Training Course, Kacchan was in that too! Is he still downstairs?"

"Yeah," Todoroki responds, already back to his deadpan expression. "He stopped over by the lounge area."

Midoriya bolts past him down the stairs. "Thanks, Todoroki-kun!" He shouts over his shoulder.

 _I don't think I've ever seen him smile_ , he thinks to himself.

Down in the corridor, Midoriya finds Bakugou sitting on the couch, looking down intensely at his phone. He walks up behind him and says, "Hey Kacchan."

Bakugou jumps from his seat and rapidly turns around as he hides the screen of his phone against his chest. "Fuck! I thought you were going to text me first!"

Midoriya's hand lifts up in surprise and blinks, slightly unnerved. "I would if I had your number," he responds.

Bakugou blinks too, but then he sighs. "Whatever. Let's just go." He walks out from behind the couch over to the door.

"Wait, do you know where to go?" Midoriya asks.

"We're going to the practice gym, right?" He responds as they both move through the doorway and out into the campus at night.

Midoriya is stunned again. "You know we have one?"

Bakugou swiftly looks over his shoulder and yells into the hollow night air, " _what the fuck do you mean by if I know we have one?"_

Midoriya smiles crudely to himself at the sudden return of his usual anger. "I mean, when we went to fight, you led me to a battle arena when we could've just gone there."

"You dumbass, they would've cut us short if we went someplace with other people around."

"But—uh, urgh—" Midoriya struggles to come up with a retort, and his face crumples up in his disgruntlement. "Ugh, whatever. I didn't know you knew, otherwise I might've asked you to practice with me here sooner."

They reach the building doors and enter through; the hallway is empty and each step echoes with a hollow click against the floor. Midoriya looks at Bakugou's back. _He's silent all of a sudden._

But as soon as he thought that, Bakugou asks, "did you mean what you said earlier?"

"Huh?"

"All that stuff you said about me earlier, when you were trying to convince me to teach you. Did you mean any of that or were you just bullshitting?"

" _Huh?_ You mean when I was calling you _cool?_ I didn't lie—and I've been calling you cool forever, so how could I have been _lying_ all of a sudden?"

Bakugou went silent again. Midoriya's patience thins; his eyebrows furrow and he huffs. _I was just trying to convince him at the moment, but all I said was true. Why would he question something my appraisals?_ He thinks back at every moment where Bakugou's ego and strive for winning exuded out of every movement and word he said _._ He never displayed a single moment of vulnerability, no matter the situation. _Geez. What's he acting so different for?_

They walk through a pair of double doors. The practice room is vast with high ceilings filled with different types of exercise equipment, a track rink, a relay pool, a mountainous range with wall climbing, and an area specific to hand-to-hand combat practice.

"Okay, let's get going!" Midoriya shouts, taking one look at the entire room and instantly getting excited. He's already forgotten what he was talking about.

"There's nobody else here!"Bakugou yells.

"Even better!" Midoriya shouts over his shoulder as he sprints ahead. "Now we have the whole place to ourselves!" He runs over to the combat area and plants himself with his feet apart and his hands up in a readied position to fight. "Let's start now!"

Bakugou marches up to the other side of the room while shouting, "don't tell me what to fucking do!"

They both watch each other from across the room, studying their movements and waiting for the other to strike. The hums of air vents escalated into the high ceilings turns into silence as it falls into their still presence. Midoriya's heart quickens with each passing moment. Soon, he takes the deepest breath he's ever taken and strikes first.

They're both reduced to gasping, exhausted puddles on the floor after fighting for four hours straight. The entire room is filled with only their ragged breaths as they try to regain their strength. Midoriya thinks back at all the useful information that had just passed, whether it'd be the mistakes he'd made or the progress in the control of his power. He turns his head with his heated cheek against the cool surface of the ground and looks at Bakugou's profile.

He remembers Bakugou's movements as they fought, each muscle flexing as he threw each punch and blocked every kick with thick arms across his face. Unconsciously, Midoriya outstretches his hand and feels the side of his face.

Bakugou instantly tenses his whole body and ceases his deep breaths. Midoriya looks confused for a moment at Bakugou's action, but then suddenly recognizes what he's doing.

He tenses up just as much as Bakugou, and they both lay there, frozen, Midoriya's hand still caressing Bakugou's face, for several seconds.

"What," Bakugou finally says, "are you—?"

"Ah—" Midoriya attempts to mutter. "I'm, uh, touching your face?" He racks his brain for any sort of excuse of his mindless gesture. "There was something on your face," he lies. "It looked like a bug, but I guess it was a bead of sweat." He chuckles awkwardly as he withdraws his hand.

Bakugou turns his head away and stands up. "Let's get going."

"Eh? Alright," he says as he makes his way back onto his feet. Bakugou wouldn't turn back around as they walk out the door and through the hallway. _What was with that reaction?_ Midoriya thinks. Usually, Bakugou would start yelling and swearing if he did anything he wouldn't like. He looks at the back of Bakugou's head and could swear he could see a faint pink of blush in his ears.

 _Oh, my GOD!_ Midoriya clutches his chest. _What is with that reaction?_

As they walk through the door into the night air, Bakugou stops in his tracks. Midoriya almost reaches out to Bakugou once more, but completely stops when he hears him say, "Uraraka, what the hell are you doing here?"

Midoriya looks out from behind Bakugou and sees Uraraka standing there, clutching her hands together to her chest. She's looking at Bakugou until she meets her eyes with Midoriya's. Suddenly a rush of sheepishness and anxiety rushes over her face as she forms the words, "Deku! I–I didn't see you in your room, s–so I thought you might still be out here…."

"Oh, yeah. What is it you wanted to talk about? We should hurry up because I don't think we're allowed to be out this late."

Uraraka looks down at her hands uncomfortably and gives a quick side‑glance to Bakugou. He blinks, then closes his eyes as he turns away. "I'm leaving now," he announces.

"See you later Kacchan!" Midoriya calls out as he walks away.

"Fucking whatever," he shouts over his shoulder.

He looks back down at Uraraka. She's in the same position, with her hands clutched to her chest.

Uraraka wasn't speaking. Midoriya awkwardly rubs the back of his head and thinks of something to say. "How was your day today?" was all he could think of.

"Ah—" she yelps. "It was fine..."

"Good!" He approves, already at a loss for what to say next. "Uh, well, tomorrow it's supposed to rain," he inquires. _Crap! I'm talking about the weather._ He's starting to feel uneasy about being out so late, especially after Eraserhead's warning to not get into any trouble again at the threat of expulsion. "Haha, too bad I don't have any umbrellas. Tomorrow's not going to be so great—"

"Deku," she exclaims, " _I like you!"_

" _Huh?"_ He blurts out.

They both look wide-eyed at each other, neither one of them expecting the words of the other. Uraraka starts stammering, "Uh, um, I—I, um—" as Midoriya just gapes at her. Finally, she spits out, "you don't have to give me an answer right away! S–so just let me know when you have an answer! Okay, bye Deku!" She sprints down the walkway and out of Midoriya's sight.

He stares in the direction she ran off in, still processing what she'd just said. _What the_ —?"


	3. Chapter 3

Midoriya's feet drag across the grass on his way back from the training room. He pays little attention to his surroundings or direction, and simply walks distractedly in the general direction of the dorms while scratching his head and thinking about what just happened.

The events replay in his head all the way back to when he _accidentally_ touched Bakugou's face to the sudden moment of Uraraka running away after confessing out of the blue.

"Since when had Uraraka felt that way?" Midoriya mutters to himself. "I haven't noticed it at all—had she always looked at me with that intention? Is it a recently appearing thing? Oh man, I have no idea how I should respond to something like this—I've never been confessed to before. Should I accept her feelings? Should I reject her? Should I wait this out? What should I do that would make things better?" He rubs his head and stares down at his walking feet. "I've never even confessed _to_ anyone before—I can't really guess how she must truly feel about this."

Midoriya sighs. "Aaaaur _rrrgghh_! Weirdest of all, why did I act that way with Kacchan? And why did Kacchan act that way with me? He normally would've flung me across the city if I even touched him. Jeez, he's jumped me just for looking at him in a way he didn't like. And he goes ahead and reacts like—"

The image of Bakugou turned away with pink ears floods midoriya's mind.

"AAAURGH!" He throws his head back and his hands fly to his temples. "What the hell _was_ that? How am I supposed to interpret that? Was that what I think it _could've_ been?" He lowers his hands and looks down at them after a thought suddenly enters his mind. "No way—there's no way it was like that. He must've just been hot after fighting for three straight hours. There's no way the violent Kacchan I know would react the way I thought I saw—" But all of a sudden he remembers how strangely Bakugou has been acting, without nearly as much anger or force.

His hands fly back to his head and he begins messing up his hair agitatedly. " _Aaurgh, aaurgh, aauurggh! What do I do what do I do what do I do_ —"

Out of a bush in the corner of his eye, Midoriya sees something move and hears the rustling of leaves being stepped on. He completely stops his mindless walking and halts his breath. He feels his heartbeat in his chest pound as seconds start to go by without any movement from either himself or the bush. _Please don't be a teacher. Please don't be a teacher. Please don't be a teacher. Please don't be a teacher. Please just let it be the League of Villains so I don't have to get in trouble with Aikawa‐Sensei again._

Suddenly the silence breaks as a twig cracks under a large shifting weight. Midoriya, without hesitation, breaks into a full‐cowl sprint down the rest of the campus, into the dormitory, up the stairs, down the hall, and back into his own room where he nearly comes crashing into the wall on the other side from the momentum.

He stops, panting, and turns around to look at the door for a few seconds. He listens, and only hears his own breathing and a vague, muffled snoring coming in from the room next to him. He takes a deep breath and exhales on a groan. "No one followed me," he reassures himself.

He falls onto his bed feels it bounce until it subsides. _Whatever's going to happen,_ he thinks, _I'll deal with it tomorrow._

"Announcement, class," Aikawa says as he walks into the class. Everyone hurries to their seats and quiets down. "I have an important message in regards to campus security." He sets down a stack of papers that was in his hands and holds up the top page to look in detail. He reads from it, "Attention students: it has come to the attention of the faculty of U.A. that the campus after dark has been deemed unsafe for students."

The class is swept with a hushed murmur at the sound of the news.

"Quiet, students," Aizawa commands as he looks up from his sheet without moving his head. The class clams up. Midoriya feels a cold sweat on the back of his neck. Aizawa reads on, "last night at approximately 11:45 P.M.—" Midoriya flinches; that was around the time he'd left the training building. "—Around the training building—" Midoriya closes his eyes shut in terror and takes a tremendous _gulp_ —"A faculty member on security duty had spotted a—"

Silence rings through the classroom. Midoriya waits for the rest of the sentence in quiet fear and his eyes clenched shut, but moments pass by, and still no continuation. He peers up at Aikawa hesitantly.

Aikawa's eyebrows furrow at the paper and he gapes, holding the paper to his face and squinting his eyes. The class begins looking at one another in confusion.

"Wait here," Aikawa finally says as he speed walks out the classroom and throws the door shut behind him.

The muttering grows louder.

"What d'you think is the problem?"

"What could've been on campus?"

"Hasn't security been amped up a ton since all the incidents with the League of Villains?"

"Yeah, how could anyone have gotten through all the security?"

Midoriya looks at the back of Bakugou's head in front of him; he's slouching in his seat with his arms crossed, lounging and without much care for the situation. Midoriya, still feeling a rush of adrenaline through his limbs from the fear of punishment, begins to reach out to touch the back of Bakugou's head—just to catch his attention, just to have him turn around and look at him for some indiscernible reason—but then the door slams open with a crack as the wood hits the inner frame, causing everyone to jump in their seats and shut their mouths as their eyes lay on Aikawa's defeated march back to the front of the class.

Aikawa takes a deep, deep breath. He picks up off the front table and continues from the same paper he was reading from, only this time with annoyance in his breath. "Around the training building," he begins, "a faculty member on security duty had spotted a _ghost_ wandering around with a negative aura and a quest to complete an unfinished deed leftover from its life."

Midoriya's jaw drops, as does everyone else's.

"It has been recommended," Aikawa continues with an incredible fold between his eyebrows and a voice so gravelly and monotonous it sounds like it's being dragged across a flat road, "that each student watch out for supernatural manifestations such as ectoplasm, orbs, shadow people, full body apparitions, cold spots, or other paranormal entities." Aikawa takes a deep breath and finishes the rest of the sentence with rushed words, "this statement will go into effect today so anyone who does not abide by these rules will be reprimanded and penalized." He sets the paper down while tilting his head back to the ceiling and sighs.

There is a pause. Midoriya couldn't take his wide eyes off Aikawa out of sheer relief of not being in trouble and shock at what has transpired instead. _A ghost. Someone definitely saw me and thought I was a_ ghost….

Off in the corner of his eye, Kaminari raises his hand but doesn't wait for Aikawa to call on him and starts speaking. "Um….Sir….uh...what's an _orb?_ "

Suddenly the classroom door slams open, causing everyone to snap out of their stupor and watch the feeble All Might stumble in, gasping for air and holding his side. "Eraserhead! Class! I'm telling you!" He walks in further, raising a pointed hand toward the class as Aikawa glares at him with knowing discontent. "What I saw last night was not something of this world!" Ashido gasps audibly and Hagakure (probably) raises her hands to her face in horror. "It moaned like the _undead—_ " Midoriya chokes on his breath—" and muttered to itself like the _unrested_!—" He slams his head against the desk in embarrassment. "It walked like the _dead_ as well! Eraserhead—my class—please, take warning against such perilous entities—"

" _Alright_ , All Might, this announcement will be enough guidance for today. Now can I get started with the class?"

"Heed my advice, my boy!" He shouts at him with a raised finger pointed at the ceiling as he slowly walks toward the door. "Your powers cannot undo the quirk of the supernatural!" And he slams the door behind him.

Hunched over with his forehead against the edge of the desk to conceal his face, Midoriya is overcome with nearly uncontrollable laughter. His shoulders shake, his chest quivers, and he has to cover his mouth with his hand so that not a single giggle could escape. He tries to calm down, but both out of relief of not being in trouble from wandering around at night and All Might mistaking him for an unrested spirit _haunts_ him.

"Hey, Midoriya, are you okay?" Mineta asks from behind him he pats his quivering shoulder. "Are you sick or something?"

He shakily raises a hand above his head and waves it away. "I…" he tries to even his breath as he wipes the tears from his eyes in the nook of his elbow and slowly raises his head to turn and look at Mineta. He lowers the corners of his mouth so his smiles wouldn't peek through. "I'm f-fine. There's nothing wrong, Mineta, I'm all good."

Mineta's eyes widen. "Oh my god," he says, "are you being _possessed?_ "

Other heads start to turn at the sound of the word _possessed_ to stare at Midoriya, who is now fighting another round of laughter from Mineta's genuine belief of the whole ghost ordeal. _Why is everyone literally thinking that I'm a ghost? What've I been doing that makes people perceive some sort of ghostly behavior?_

"Hey, Midoriya," Kirishima calls from his seat, "if you are being possessed right now, _blink twice_."

" _Huh_?" Midoriya bleats out confusedly, accidentally blinking at the entire class.

Gasps are heard all around. "Teacher! Midoriya is acting kind of different!" Ashido blurts out.

"What? Huh?" Finally having his hysterics subsided, MIdoriya turns his head in every direction, befuddled by everyone's stares. "What's wrong?"

"Ashido, I saw, and this is proving nothing," Aikawa deadpans. "Now, finally, class…."

"BUT TEACHER!" Everyone hollers and shrieks together at Aikawa.

"What if there really is a ghost?"

"What do we do if a ghost wants to possess us or something?"

"We need to find out if it's a ghost or not!"

"What do ghosts even look like?"

"Who do you think the ghost was?"

"Does it turn into those orbs?"

Aikawa slams his fist against his desk. " _I already said that we're going to start class! If I hear one more person talk about ghosts, you'll end up being one!"_ Everyone shut up. Aikawa sighs. "Okay. For today's lesson…."

Midoriya looks up to the front of the classroom until he sees Bakugou's head far more turned in his direction. Midoriya glances and their eyes meet for a brief moment, but Bakugou quickly turns his head and looks away. He's not reclined in his chair anymore; his back is straight, his hands are at his sides, and his shoulders look tense.

Midoriya tilts his head to the side, puzzled. _What's got him acting like this all of a sudden?_

Class resumes until the end of the school day. Nothing eventful has happened since morning, and Midoriya is getting excited for his first day of field experience with Togata.

As he places his school shoes back into the shoe locker, he recognizes Bakugou at the entrance, standing there rigidly with his back straight and his fists at his side. It's the same body language as it was during class.

 _I guess he's in a bad mood, so I really should avoid him right now_ , he thinks. Midoriya walks up to him and grabs his shoulder.

Bakugou jumps away and turns around with his arms up defensively and with a heavy glare at Midoriya. "What the fuck! What the hell do you want?"

 _What? Crap? I messed up?_ "Hey! I, Uh…" Midoriya grapples around for something to say. He doesn't know what could be the reason for grabbing his attention all of a sudden. "Do, uh, you wanna walk back to the dorms together?" He says on a whim.

Bakugou blinks at him, processing what Midoriya had just said. Then he grimaces back at Midoriya, hesitates, but says, "why the _fuck_ would I want to walk back with _you,_ Deku? What type of bullshit are you speaking? Do you have shit for brains? Are you fucking crazy? Go away. Leave me alone. Fuck off." And he turns around and lifts one stiff, shaky leg after the other out of the entrance.

"Wait!" Midoriya calls after him as he follows. "What's wrong? You were fine with me being in your presence yesterday."

"Shut up, Deku," he growls as he anxiously looks around in every direction before turning past a building and into a walkway of bushes.

"It's weird. You've been acting like that since this morning when we were talking about ghosts."

Bakugou flinches at the last word of his sentence and completely stops walking.

Midoriya blinks, connecting the pieces in his mind. "Wait. Wait, Kacchan…." He narrows his eyes. "Are you…" he hesitates for a second, nearly doubting what he's about to ask. "Are you _scared of ghosts_?"

Bakugou whips his head around and looks wide-eyed as his terror surfaces to his face. "SO WHAT IF I'M SCARED OF GHOSTS?" He hollers at Midoriya, who jumps at the sudden volume. "WHAT TYPE OF SHIT IS A GHOST? WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY? I CAN'T FUCKING _FIGHT_ ONE, CAN I?"

" _Is your biggest concern seriously about whether you could_ fight _one or not?"_ Midoriya shouts at him in disbelief.

" _How else am I supposed to be Number One if I can't even beat up a fucking ghost?"_

" _Kacchan, don't ever try to fight a ghost!"_

" _I'm not_ going _to, dumbass, those things are scary as hell!"_ Bakugou begins rigidly walking away again. " _So stay the hell away from me, because you could be possessed by one!"_

Suddenly Midoriya explodes with laughter that takes the both of them by surprise. Bakugou turns back around and stares as he hunches over and tries to suppress it, but it's so uncontrollable that he falls onto all fours to the ground and laughter pours out of him like a faucet of water. "Kacchan—Kacchan," he tries to say between each new fit of laughter as he lifts himself to a kneeling position. "Kacchan….I'm not possessed, that's just ridiculous…" he wipes the tears from his eyes and looks up at Bakugou, almost expecting him to get angry again for laughing. Instead, Midoriya is met by softer eyes than usual, and a look that almost resembles fondness.

"I've never really seen you laugh like that," Bakugou says.

Seconds go by, and Midoriya stares back at Bakugou in slight disbelief and amazement at his sudden emotions toward him. Midoriya could never have thought something like his own laughter could ever have meant anything to Bakugou, but it clearly must mean _something._

Instantly Midoriya stumbles back onto his feet. "Kacchan! Let me walk you back! Especially with the ghosts and stuff—and I _promise_ I'm not possessed—so you wouldn't have to walk alone through the haunted campus?" Nevermind that the ghost reporting was probably his fault in the first place—but if he mentions it, he probably wouldn't get this opportunity a second time.

Bakugou looks slightly taken aback by this proposal; but then he slightly turns his head away and says, "Don't be a dumbass, Deku. And isn't this something you should be doing with Uraraka now?"

"Huh?" Now Midoriya is taken aback. "Why would I be walking back with her? I don't think she has a fear of ghosts…"

"Wait, aren't you going out with her now?" He asks, looking back at Midoriya again, disgruntled.

"What? No, I still haven't given her an answer." He thinks back to earlier that day during lunch and the free period when he avoided her the entire time. A brick of guilt drops in his stomach for his friend. But then another thought runs past his mind. "Wait, how did you even know that Uraraka confessed to me in the first place?" He narrows his eyes. "Were you eavesdropping or something?"

" _What the fuck, no!_ It was just so obvious that was what she was going to say!" He grouches.

"Well, I'm definitely not going out with her right now. You happy?"

Bakugou's face grimaces and contorts angrily. " _What the fuck should I be happy about, dumbass?"_ And he turns back around and resumes walking down the path once more.

He stands there for another moment, still unsure if he is able to follow or not, until Bakugou shouts over his shoulder, "HEY, DEKU! HURRY UP! THERE COULD BE GHOSTS ANYWHERE!"

Midoriya gleams as he rushes up to Bakugou's side. He almost falls into another fit of hysterics just because of how surprising Bakugou has been lately.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys. Just buttin in here real quick to mention some stuff. First of all, I want to thank everyone who's read this fanfic so far; you guys are real cool for hanging out. Tell me what you guys think of it, or what you want to happen and stuff.**

 **The second thing I want to mention is that I totally made a mistake with the timeline. I fucked up. My lazy ass wasn't referencing from the manga on what was going on when it was going on. What happened was that I wrote in Midoriya being excited about field experience.**

 **First of all, it's not even field experience, it's his internship. Like, I got to keep that consistent. Second, that doesn't even happen for several more days until after the first day on the streets with Togata where he saw Eri. Third, and I can't believe i said something this** **estúpido, but I wrote him being excited for his** _ **first**_ **day of field experience. It was in fact** _ **not**_ **his first day, since seeing Eri was part of the whole inciting incident for Midoriya to get stronger in the first place.**

 **So, like, please, as a reader, do me a favor and pretend I didn't even write that in? I wrote nothing. There was no mistake made at that time. Just ignore it like you're ignoring the outside political climate by reading this BakuDeku fanfic.**

 **I also want to let you guys know exactly when this story is taking place in the manga. This is waaay ahead of the anime, so if anyone is reading this without having read the manga, I'm sorry pal. I just want to make sure everyone knows where we are, since the time I wrote the first chapter was published to correspond after the last BNHA chapter that was released at that time. This moment is taking place right in the middle of chapter 134, more specifically during the "several days" that pass on page 16. I'll keep updating on where exactly the story is taking place in the manga.**

 **I'm not going to be using the Japanese suffixes at all—I tried that for a little, but it feels awkward writing it and reading it over, so I'm letting that go. Since Aikawa is often referred to as only "Sensei" a lot of the times, I'm just using the word "Teacher".**

 **Also, i want to make clear just why I decided to put a ghost theme into the fic, so here are the reasons listed:**

 **I can**

 **Anyway, that wasn't super quick of an author's note. Hope you guys like the chapter and are having as much fun with it as I am, and don't forget to leave a comment! enjoythecheese~**

After entering his room, Midoriya collapses onto his bed, his face down into the edge of the pillow. He huffs a big, soft sigh into the fabric and then turns over to stare at the ceiling. The room buzzes with noiseless air and the minutes go by. His mind stumbles around the new events of the past forty–eight hours that have radically changed his present. _What is going on. What do I do. What am I even thinking._

First of all, Midoriya couldn't believe how his own reaction toward Uraraka's confession, or how much he's been avoiding her. He's always thought he liked her, at least a little. He at least likes her as a friend, definitely. The way he's avoided her still pangs a thread of guilt through his chest.

The way he thinks about Bakugou has become different for him, though. Thinking about Bakugou flutters butterflies through his stomach and Midoriya suddenly curls up and turns to his side, and another feeling of guilt arises in him, although from a different cause.

He sighs again. "Do I like Kacchan?" He says out loud, hearing it and only making it all the more surreal. _It can't be._ Midoriya can't quite grasp what might have triggered himself to start liking Bakugou in this way, especially since he hasn't thought about him in any different way. He remembers back to the incessant bullying he suffered under Bakugou's anger—and why he would ever come to like him the first place. _Maybe it's like, Stockholm Syndrome?_ But at the same time, He's always cared about Bakugou no matter how mean he's been for as long as he's known him, whether it's been as a friend or as something else—

His door slams open. "MIDORIYA GET UP!"

Midoriya jumps upright as he flinches away with his hands raised in surprise. " _Jeez, what?_ " He shouts as he peeks between his arms to see Kaminari running over to his bedside and then grab his arm—he haphazardly pulls Midoriya off the bed and drags him out of the room.

"Class 1–b's Shiozaki is here and is apparently trying to protect everyone from the spirit!" Kaminari yells as he continues to yank Midoriya's arm down the stairs.

" _What?"_ He exasperates back, with almost too much absurdity in his voice.

"Thank god she really is a blessing from heaven sent to help us in this time of haunting because I have been scared out of my mind lately." Before Midoriya can go back, they're already in between both entire classed crowding around a center point. "I GOT MIDORIYA!" Kaminari shouts into the crowd.

"HE GOES AFTER ME!" Jiro shouts from the middle.

In the center, Shiozaki stands with her body straight, her hands together at her center and her eyes closed as Jiro stands across from her, looking expectantly.

Shiozaki raises her hands with her palms facing her. " _In the name of the Lord whom we humbly follow, please grant your blessing apon this individual in the wake of evil presence!"_ She walks forward and slams her hands down onto Jiro's shoulders who flinches. " _O Divine Being!"_ She shouts with her eyes staring up at the ceiling. The crowd begins muttering in excitement. " _Lend your humble followers your blessed strength!"_ The crowd audibly inhales and grows silent. A ringing noise hums in the background. Shiozaki's head lowers and she starts mumbling under her breath. The crowd leans forward, trying to hear it.

Her head rises and she looks at Jiro. "Your spirit is clear of any harm from any negative entities. You are lucky, my friend. Amen."

The crowd goes wild with excitement and Jiro raises her arms in a triumph that she didn't quite feel she earned completely.

Midoriya looks back at the stairway and inches his way back in its direction in an effort to escape, but to his horror he sees both Tsuyu and Uraraka walking down the stairs together, looking onto the commotion in the middle of the corridor. _Crap, I can't make eye contact with her now!_ He slowly slides back into the crowd and lowers his head, putting as much distance between each other as possible until he meets the very center where Shiozaki stands.

"Who desires to be blessed next?" She asks.

Everyone screams.

"ME!"

"I WANNA BE BLESSED!"

"PLEASE PICK ME!"

She furrows her eyebrows as she skims the group with her eyes until they land on someone. "No; out of all the people before me, there is no one as shaken by the spirit's presence as you are."

Midoriya chuckles to himself. _It can't be…_

" _What?_ What the fuck are you even talking about? As if I'd be afraid of fucking ghosts!"

The crowd clears away from Bakugou, standing as stiffly as he was earlier in the day. He looks onto Shiozaki with disdain and obvious shock that she noticed his obvious fear. Midoriya's jaw drops. _It is._

She studies Bakugou for a moment. "There also seems to be something else surrounding your energy in terms of how you feel."

Although it seemed impossible, Bakugou stiffens even more. He hesitates, looking like he's about to ask something, but then seems to change his mind and snarl, "I don't fucking care, just give me a shitty ass blessing or whatever!"

Midoriya sighs. _Kacchan, you practically just admitted you fear by accepting the blessing…._

"I cannot bless you," Shiozaki declares.

Bakugou is taken aback. "Why the fuck not?"

"Because someone else's energy seems to prevent my own from permeating yours for this blessing."

People from the crowd cock their heads in confusion, but Shiozaki continues, "someone, either by their will or your own, has ensnared you in their own spirit."

Bakugou goes pale. "Th-there's spiritual energy on _my_ spiritual energy?"

She nods. "Yes. It could be caused purely out of emotion, though, and can be solved by going down either two roads: you could distance yourself from whatever it is that is causing such an emotional response; some may say this is the easier path. Or—you could confront it. But, from what I can tell by your spirit, this is the greatest weakness you have."

Bakugou, so pale he could be mistaken as a ghost himself, stares in shock and stumbles backward until he's absorbed by the equally-stunned crowd. Midoriya stares at the area where Bakugou last was, still with his jaw dropped to the floor, awe at the entire ordeal. The floor is silent.

Having had enough, Midoriya slips back out of the crowd. He furrows his eyebrows. _That was weird. Is Kacchan actually going through some emotional stuff right now with someone, or something? Is something going on with him? It couldn't be me, right?_ Midoriya thinks back to the huge fight he had with Bakugou, and how they both finally said what they've felt towards each other over all these years, and the different relationship they now have because of it. _We already had our emotional confrontation, right? So something like that definitely couldn't be because of me…._

He shakes his head. _Whatever, it's all probably nonsense anyway._

On his way back up the stairs, out of the corner of Midoriya's eye, he sees Bakugou escape the edge of the crowd with his head low and his eyes lost in thought. Midoriya opens his mouth to call out to him, but pauses when he hears:

"Can," Uraraka's nervous voice quavers out, "can, um, I maybe go next?"

Bakugou's head snaps up and turns towards her direction. Midoriya stops.

Shiozaki looks over to Uraraka who has made her way through the group toward the center. "Of course," she replies. "But you don't really want a blessing, do you?"

Uraraka's eyes widen with surprise and her chest swells with a deep inhale. "No, I'm sorry, I don't."

Shiozaki then asks, "do you want to hear about your romantic future?"

She drops her head and stares at the floor, then nods.

The crowd bursts into shocked gasps and excited muttering. Everyone is thrilled to watch Uraraka have her love fortune read.

Midoriya, on the other hand, is still watching Bakugou. He, shockingly to Midoriya, grows an emotional look of both concern and worry towards the center of the crowd where Uraraka is.

His heart drops in his chest. _Maybe_ , he thinks, _he's actually liked Uraraka all this time._

He watches Bakugou ball up his fists and raise them slightly, and take an unconscious step forward.

 _Yeah. That probably makes more sense._


End file.
